Gristhorpe Man : (c. 2200 BC)

Introduction

In July 1834, landowner William Beswick and a group of friends dug
into the central and most prominent of a group of three barrows on the
cliffs at Gristhorpe near Scarborough, the site of which now lies within
the Blue Dolphin Holiday Park. They discovered an intact log-coffin
burial which contained a perfectly preserved skeleton, stained black
from the oak tannins and buried with a range of grave goods that included
a bronze dagger blade and whalebone pommel, a flint knife, and a range
of organic grave goods that remains unparalleled in the British archaeological
record. These included a bark basket or container and an animal skin
within which the body had been wrapped. William Beswick donated this
important assemblage of finds to the then newly-opened Scarborough Museum
(now the Rotunda Museum) and they have remained on display there ever
since.

The skeleton

Re-examination of the skeleton by staff at the University of Bradford
has included a new assessment of his stature, age and health. This work
has revealed that ‘Gristhorpe Man’ was around 1.82m (six
feet) tall – one of the tallest individuals known from Bronze
Age Britain. He was around 60 years old when he died and the skeleton
has extensive evidence of degenerative change and ossification of cartilage.
Pathology present included two healed rib fractures and dental disease,
whilst Raman spectroscopy has revealed that what had been thought to
be ‘mistletoe berries’ are actually kidney stones.

Additional information was obtained using X-ray photography and CT
scans. The former provided evidence of trauma to the front of the mandible,
whilst the latter identified a large cyst above the left maxillary molars
and a benign intra-cranial tumour that could have resulted in a number
of physical effects, including muscle weakness on the right hand side
of the body. It could also have meant that ‘Gristhorpe Man’
would have been subject to seizures in his latter years.

Isotopic analyses of the bones and teeth have produced important new
information about the origins and lifestyle of the individual, indicating
that he was likely to have originated from the Scarborough area and
had a high animal protein diet, obtained from terrestrial rather than
marine animals, throughout his life.

The development of forensic facial reconstruction techniques in recent
times provided Dr. Alan Ogden of the Bradford Bioanthropology Centre
(BARC) with the perfect opportunity to reconstruct how Gristhorpe Man
may well have looked.

The date of the burial

Radiocarbon dates were obtained for the skeleton, the coffin, and an
oak branch that had been placed on top of the coffin. The dates from
the skeleton indicate that Gristhorpe Man died between 2200 BC and 2020
BC and are consistent with those obtained form the coffin which indicate
that the tree was felled between 2115 BC and 2035 BC. The oak branch,
however, provided a later date of between 1750 BC and 1530 BC and had
been introduced centuries after the original interment.

The coffin and grave goods

The waterlogged conditions in the grave meant that the log-coffin was
in an excellent state when recovered in 1834. Only the lid now survives,
but this has ensured the preservation of what the original excavators
thought was ‘a rude figure of a human face’ carved into
the lid at the foot of the coffin. This carving was ‘much damaged
by the feet of the workmen’ and was inaccurately depicted in their
1834 illustration. Re-examination has revealed that the ‘face’
is surrounded by a cut which flares, possibly to indicate shoulders.

A range of scientific analyses have been carried out on the items found
in the coffin. These include metallurgical and lead isotope analyses
of the bronze dagger blade which indicate that Ireland was the ultimate
source of the copper ore used, but that it had been recycled with other
ores being introduced. The original 1834 illustration of the blade appears
to depict a scabbard that is no longer present. Scanning electron microscopy
detected traces of animal collagen on the blade, confirming the former
presence of a scabbard. The pommel of the dagger was fashioned from
whalebone. The flint knife provided evidence of it having been hafted
and re-sharpened twice. Microwear analysis indicated that it had been
used to work hides and cut meat.